


Mike without Stan - Mike Makes a Move

by roobarrtrashmouth



Series: Mike without Stan [2]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Explicit Language, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-16 10:49:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21035024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roobarrtrashmouth/pseuds/roobarrtrashmouth
Summary: Pennywise is dead. Mike leaves Derry and make a pilgrimage to the South.





	Mike without Stan - Mike Makes a Move

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Tumblr Prompts (non-reddie)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16616990) by [tinyarmedtrex](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinyarmedtrex/pseuds/tinyarmedtrex). 

> This is the 3rd part of of a Semi Canon Story
> 
> Pt. 1 Ch. 17 - Canon Mike- Stanlon by @tinyarmedtrex  
Pt. 2 Canon Stan - Stanlon

July 2016

The room was not lit very well. But Mike could see fine. He sat re-reading the letter from Stan. A sad smile on his face and his eyes red from crying. He knew that his letter from Stan was just for him. There were too many references to their shared time together. He knew that everyone else's letters had to be customized for each of them. As usual his logical Stan had made sure that each of them got the message that they all needed to hear to live after defeating Pennywise. 

“Always the chess player.” Mike mused. “Always 3 moves ahead of the other player. Yeah you took yourself off the board and gave us the strength we all needed to kill that fucker, forever.” 

He looked around the room once more. There was nothing keeping him in Derry anymore. Pennywise was dead and gone. There wasn’t a need for a lighthouse keeper any more. The current and future children of Derry could sleep, play, and live in peace. The Losers sacrifice had made it so. 

As for the farm, the only person he had any dreams of sharing it with, wasn’t around anymore. Stan had loved the farm. It was a form of escapism for him. A way to get away from his father. His relationship with Mike was also a form of rebellion. His speech at his Bar Mitzvah was just the beginning for Stan. Sure their relationship was a secret to his family but it would sure have made Rabbi Uris drop dead. 

His bags were packed and in the car. Mike placed his letter along with the photo strip of the losers in his notebook. He walked into the kitchen and left the keys on the counter. Without a final look back, he walked to his car, started the engine and pulled out his notebook and looked at the photo strip once more, “I’m on my way babe. It’ll take me awhile to get there, but I’ll be there soon. Promise.” He gently ran a finger over the photo where it looked like Stan was looking right into Mike’s head and gently smiled once more. 

Visions of Stan’s long curly hair came unbidden to Mike. Afternoons at the quarry, long stares across the clubhouse in the Barrens. Weekends and evenings studying, shoulders gently rubbing against each other as they attempted to do the same math problem for the fourth time. Good times spent with the love of his life. 

“Soon, babe, soon.” Placing the photo strip back into the book Mike put the car in drive and drove down Center St. past the Canal, the Aladdin and turned onto Up Mile Hill to make his way to Route 3 and away from Derry forever, without a second glance back and a smile on his face. 

____________

True to his word he heads like an arrow down the Atlantic seaboard straight to a certain suburb outside of Atlanta. That was his first stop. He won’t start sightseeing until after this is done. Not before. He has to do this first. 

The other Losers were beginning to move on. They haven’t forgotten and probably won’t. Not this time. He already had shared with Bill his theory as to why they haven’t forgotten like the first time. There was so much more to remember this time than there was the first time. 

This hurt him and Richie the most. Richie had forgotten about how much he loved Eddie. Stan and Mike had talked about it often. Stan had even commented that they should collectively do something about it because, “You just damn well know those two idiots won’t. I swear I have to do everything for Rich.” Stan had admitted at one point to Mike as they were bird watching. Not Mike. He had to read about how the one person he loved more than life itself had gotten married. He actually kept Stan and Patty’s wedding announcement in his notebook. 

Outside of Richmond, Virginia while staying in a motel he called Richie to see how he was doing.

“Hey Rich! How’re you doing buddy?” Mike asked. 

“Mikey! Homeschool. It’s fucking great to hear from you. Where the fuck are you? Shit, tell me you aren’t still in Derry? Fuck I hope not.” Richie answered in his usual fashion. 

“Nah man. I’m in Virginia.” Mike answered hesitantly. 

“The fuck are you doing down there… oh. Ok, yeah.” Richie responded.

“I have to Rich. You know that.” Mike said with sadness creeping into his voice. 

“Yeah I get it. Put a rock on his headstone for me and tell him I’m still pissed he missed the big reunion.” Richie told Mike.

“Yah I will. Hey I know I said I was going to go to Florida, but I have a better idea. What will you be doing in about 2 or 3 weeks?” Mike asked with a smile. 

“Mike don’t fucking toy with me.” Richie warned.

“I wouldn’t do that. Come on. When I’m… done. How about I head to Cali and you show me around? Is that cool?” Mike asked.

“Cool. Fuck, you can stay with me and keep me from going crazy. You’re going to love SoCal. Finally get you some real Mexican food and put an In N Out burger in that New England mouth of yours.” Richie told Mike with a smile and tears in his eyes.

“I don’t want to be a burde…” Mike started.

“Beep beep Homeschool. Damn now I know why you all loved to tell me that. That shit felt good. Anyway, you’ll stay with me. We can talk about the old times and the times coming up. Maybe go visit Billy Boy in the fucking mansion he has in Santa Barbara.” Richie promised. 

“Ok man it’s stupid late here and I have to hit the road early if I want to make another big leap down the road. Ya know, I wanted to see the country, it looks like I’m going to get my wish.” Mike added. 

“Hahahaha, right! Ok then old man, you go to sleep. Call me when you are headed to the Best Coast so I can clean this fucking pig stye up. Eds would…” Richie hit a brick wall. Mike could hear him take a breath and swallow hard, “Eds would fucking hate the way I keep house. I remember everything about him Mikey, every last fucking thing. His eye color, his smile, his stupid fanny packs all of it. God damn I miss him.” Richie said his voice thick with emotion. 

“I feel ya Rich. Just try and remember the good things. Trust me it helps.” Mike advised. 

“Yeah I will." Richie takes a deep breath, centers himself and continues. "Anyway man call me when you are in Arizona or New Mexico and I’ll have this place so clean that even SpaghEds would eat off the floor.” Richie told him. 

Mike cracked a smile at that comment. It meant that Richie was finally starting to internalize the pain. “I highly doubt Eddie would eat off any floor Rich and I will call when I get close. See ya soon.” Mike promised.

“Love ya Mikey.” Richie said.

“Love you too Rich. See ya.” Mike responded. 

After they hung up Mike thought about the gift he had. He hoped Richie wouldn’t be upset. But it didn’t deserve to stay in that shit of a town. A week before he left he went to the kissing bridge, took a saw and cut the board that contained the R + E and another board that he highly doubted Rich had noticed. It was two below the R + E and it was an R with a poorly cut heart surrounding it. Both boards were safely packed in his trunk. 

________________________

He found the cemetery. Sure he knew the address but it was more than that. He felt a pull ever since he left Derry. He could have found it without the address. Just like he felt he could find any of the Losers. They all had built in homing beacons that only other Losers could sense. 

For a cemetery it was beautiful. Stan was buried on a slight rise near a stand of trees and within sight of a fountain, that at this moment was filled with birds. Mike smiled at the appropriateness of it. Stan would love it if he were alive. Mike made his way to the grave and headstone. He was surprised when he got to it. The inscription was unbelievable. 

Stanley Uris

July 13, 1976 - May 28, 2016

Loving Husband, Friend, and Loser

Mike was shaken to his core. The husband and friend he could understand. But Loser. How. Who would have put that there? He may never know but he knew that he wanted to give that person a huge hug.

Mike took 6 stones from his pack and gently put them across the top of the headstone. As he placed a stone he said the name of a Loser.

"Here's Eddie. He's probably there with you already. If he is, tell him that you were right all along and Richie is madly in love with him and always has been. Please take care of each other." Mike sat there with the last rock. "Ok, Whill, those stones came from the Barrens, Quarry, and other places that the Losers loved. This one is mine. I got this from our favorite place to go birding. You know the place, it was where you got the Scalet Tanager." 

Mike sat there in front of Stan's headstone and tears began to fall from his eyes. "Stan. I'm happy that you found someone after you left me and Derry and found happiness. I guess I'm more like Richie. There was no one after you. I dated but none compared to you. You were my first and only love. I wanted you to know that, you deserve that much. I hope Patty made you as happy as I hoped we would be on the farm. Oh yeah, I sold the farm. There was no need to keep it. You were the only person I ever really wanted to share it with and… well… yeah." Mike wiped more tears from his face.

"I got your letter." He continued, removing the flowers that were half dead and replaced them with the flowers that were guaranteed to draw hummingbirds. "By the way I interpreted it seemed like you remembered me and all the great times we shared in Derry. I just wish that I had followed you to college. I had the chance to go, but Derry had other plans for me I guess."

"We killed Pennywise, he isn't coming back. I think we could have done it with you, but I, more so than anyone, understand why you did what you did. I get it. Chess and all. But damn it would have been great to see you again. Laugh, maybe cry, but see you. I never forgot you Stan. I don't hold your forgetting me against you. Hell I could never stay mad at you for long. It wasn't you, it was that fucking clown." 

Mike stayed and talked to Stan until it started to get dark. He got up and made is way to the nearby hotel he had reserved. He showered and changed and went to eat. When he got back he sat up and as he had done many times over the last 27 years he skimmed through his notebook and looked at his photo collection. He had taken what seemed like hundreds of photos of the Losers before they had left town. He did this until the tears and sleep overtook him and he drifted off. 

He dreamed that Stan had come to visit him at the hotel and told him that even though he had forgotten him he had always occupied a place in his heart. He loved Patty, but he always knew there was something missing that nothing could fill. No matter how hard he tried. He also told him that he loved him and always would.

"Rest easy Shep and don't worry. I remember you now and am waiting for you. Just don't rush to me. Enjoy the life you have earned and see the country and this world. Eddie is with me, I'm not alone or scared anymore. Now that I know Pennywise is gone. I'm so proud of you all. I love you."

Mike woke with a start and gently cried out Stan's name. When he realized he was alone, he began to weep.

He arrived at the cemetery a bit after Noon and again sat down in front of he Stan's grave and began recounting his life after Stan had left Derry.

Again he stayed until dusk and repeated his routing from the night before. When he woke the next day he couldn't remember his dream and counted himself lucky. After a light breakfast he went back to his room and packed. Today he was leaving for California and Richie.

"Well Whill that's about it for now. I was talking with the other Losers and we'll be back next year on the day we defeated Pennywise. That may become an annual thing with us, for me anyway." 

As Mike was talking he heard someone approaching. He knew instantly that it was Patty. He quickly stood and turned to watch as she approached him.

"Hello Mrs. Uris. My name is Michael Hanlon. Mike to my friends." Mike said.

Patty had a strained look on her face. "The cemetery guard called me because evidently you've been coming for 2 days straight."

"I'm sorry I should have let the guard know." Mike started

"No it's OK, they were getting concerned. That's all. Mike, how did you know Stanley?" Patty asked even though it seemed like she already knew.

Mike smiled, "We grew up together in Maine. I heard of his untimely death and felt I should pay my respects." 

"Would you be one of those.. Losers?" Patty asked.

A wan smile came to Mike's face."Yes I would indeed be one." 

"Stanley left me a letter asking to have Loser added to his headstone and that if anyone came by, not to worry. It would probably be one of the Losers. Looks like he was right." Patty said with a bit more strain in her voice. "His letter actually spoke of you, directly."

A slight blush spread across his face, Mike smiled, "It did? Nothing bad I hope." He offered.

"No. Nothing bad. He said that you were his closest and best friend. The one who knew him best. He said that he deeply regretted that his… death would mean that he wouldn't see you again, but that you would understand." She told Mike. 

A sad smile passed over Mike's face and his eyes got glassy with unshed tears. "Thank you for sharing that with me. I'm truly sorry for your loss. But thank you very much for adding loser to his headstone, that means a lot to us. We all were very… close." 

A knowing look passed between the two of them. Mike was sure that Patty somehow knew that Mike was more than a friend, but she didn't seem to mind. 

Patty then surprised him by pulling Mike into a tight hug and whispered. "We were lucky to have shared his love." 

She then pulled back and wiped tears from her eyes and continued, "You and Stan's friends, the Losers, are welcome here anytime. Take care of yourself Mike. That's what he would want… for both of us." She smiled at Mike one last time and walked to the car parked nearby.

Mike stood there dumbfounded. As Patty pulled away he waved goodbye. He then turned to Stan's final resting place and said, "You married a wonderful and great woman. I have to go now babe, Richie's waiting. We'll all be back in about a year. I promise to never forget you and to travel. I miss and love you Stan." 

Mike kissed his hand and gently placed it on top of the headstone. Waved, turned and walked to his own car.

**Author's Note:**

> A huge thank you to @tinyarmedtrex for inadvertently getting the ball rolling on this series.


End file.
